ADD another £5million to his transfer value, or another safeful of gold ingots to his massive new wage agreement.

ADD another #5million to his transfer value, or another safeful of gold ingots to his massive new wage agreement. Whichever, or whatever.

Fact is that Wayne Rooney is pretty well priceless as he showed in Coimbra with a match-winning double that lifted a lacklustre England out of their France affliction and put them within sight of group salvation.

Wayne has ever been the guy for the big stage.

Young in years he may be, but his natural gifts are such that he faces every challenge with utter fearless-ness. An outstanding individual performance against the French, in a game so unluckily lost, will have convinced Wayne that nothing is going to stop him becoming one of the sensations of Euro 2004.

Already England youngest-ever goalscorer, he established another European Championships finals record when he put Sven-Goran Eriksson s men ahead in the 22nd minute.

Up to that point England looked every bit as laboured as the already doomed Russians, which, given the first shattering result simply added to the unease spreading through the Estadio Cidade.

But then the Everton hero took charge.

Winning a vital tackle in midfield, he raced on as the ball was transferred to Steven Gerrard - for once breaking foward - and then David Beckham before it got switched from right to left to Michael Owen.

Rooney's run of fully 40 yards took him to the centre of the goal and, and an Owen lob and a powerful header from the young striker left Switzerland goalkeeper Stiel nonplussed.

The somersault that followed sent the largely English crowd into raptures and brought a health warning from the BBC chief sports correspondent Mike Ingham about the young man doing himself an injury. Rooney's joy was certainly infectious in terms of the spectators, but did little for England's own confidence which still seemed to be fragaile after Zinedine Zidane's crushing finale.

Sven had stuck with 4-4-2, despite rumours that the diamond was going to be dug out of the bank vault again.

But whereas it proved a defensive asset against France - at least for 90 minutes - here it failed to give England any width or attacking potency against a Swiss side who, early on, bossed the game through Liverpool's nemesis, Hakan Yakin,

There were other worries too. Beckham, despite an assist for two of England's goals, seemed abandoned on the right wing, while Frank Lampard was so ineffective as the attacking central midfielder that it was surprising he got the whole 90 minutes.

Paul Scholes proved to be another who drifted further and further from the action and the returning John Terry missed so many headers in his own area that you wondered why Ledley King was only warming the bench.

Gerrard again did the holding role which is a waste, even if he did get forward more as the game stretched out and the Swiss saw full-back Bernt Haas lived up to his name with a red-cheeked departure.

That dismissal may have been the key moment. It gave England more space and when the fretting Owen also left early - replaced by Darius Vassell - it was the cue for the irrepresible Rooney to hoover up all the headlines once more.

Owen Hargreaves - on for Scholes - whacked the ball upfield, Vassell tussled and won posession and slid the ball to Rooney, gliding up on his left.

Rooney veered inside on to the edge of the penalty area, looked up and smashed the ball on to the post before a kiss-off the head of a despairing keeper sent it into the net.

He'll be claiming it, just as his agent will be claiming a lot more on behalf of his famous client in the weeks to come.

Gerrard's third after good work by Beckham and Gary Neville made it a wrap.

But all eyes remain on Rooney. I predicted that if he flourished, England would put up a show. They're still not all totally convincing. But Rooney certainly is, despite the inexperience.